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The Daily Signal
Corruption
Charges in Detroit Schools Spur Calls for Education Reform
Kristiana Mork
April 08, 2016
Officials are calling for education reform after bribery indictments
against Detroit public school officials and a supplier alleged $2.7
million in fraudulent spending, even as Michigan’s governor signed off
on nearly $50 million in emergency spending.
“Principals are in positions of public trust and have an obligation to
act in the best interest of their schools and the children … they
represent,” Jarod Koopman, IRS special agent in charge, said in a
formal statement. “Those principals who line their own pockets through
fraudulent means violate this trust by making the conscious decision to
deprive teachers of the very resources necessary to provide quality
education.”
The investigation centered on Norman Shy, 74, a supplies vendor.
Koopman and other authorities said Shy conspired with 13 school
officials from 2002 to 2015 to submit fraudulent invoices for more
supplies than he delivered. The principals are thought to have approved
the invoices in return for bribes and kickbacks from Shy.
“It is extremely disappointing when greed and selfishness deteriorate
the communities and future possibilities of our youth,” Koopman said.
Koopman and Dave Gelios, special agent in charge at the FBI’s Detroit
field office, conducted the investigation that uncovered what they said
was $2.7 million in fraudulent invoices.
Shy and Clara Flowers, the school district’s assistant superintendent
for specialized student services and former principal of Henderson
Academy, also were charged with tax evasion.
“Here we have yet another problem to add to the litany of issues
emanating from Detroit public schools,” Lindsey Burke, The Heritage
Foundation’s Will Skillman fellow in education policy, told The Daily
Signal in an email, adding:
These significant allegations of corruption add to a long list of
problems: Just 8 percent of Detroit public school eighth-graders can
read proficiently, according to the National Assessment of Educational
Progress; just 3 percent are proficient in math. Fewer than seven in 10
students graduate.
State Rep. Sherry Gay-Dagnogo, D-Detroit, told The Daily Signal in a
phone interview that she is “very disappointed” by the charges.
Gay-Dagnogo said she began her own career in Detroit public schools
under one of the officials named in the indictment.
“Just to hear [about the indictments], at the time when we are in the
biggest fight of our lives to sustain the Detroit public schools … it
was just a gut punch,” the former teacher added.
The same day U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade announced the bribery
indictments, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican, signed
legislation allocating $48.7 million in emergency funding to the school
system.
“There are definitely questions now,” Gay-Dagnogo said of the funds.
Michigan House Speaker Kevin Cotter, R-Mt. Pleasant, said the
corruption charges only made Republicans more anxious for reforms.
“Local officials in Detroit want more power and a handout from the
state,” Cotter said in a formal statement. “But House Republicans want
assurances that nothing like this can ever happen again. Serious
financial and academic reforms, including state oversight, must be
enacted in Detroit before one more dollar is spent trying to prop up
this failing district.”
Gay-Dagnogo said fiscal oversight alone, such as through an emergency
manager, has not improved the school system because schools stay the
same internally.
“We need increased transparency, shared responsibility, and we need to
take a look at what’s actually taking place,” she told The Daily Signal.
Heritage’s Burke recommended expanding education options:
Instead of consigning poor children to the public schools within
Detroit, families should have options in where and how their dollars
are spent. Funds should follow a child to any school of choice,
enabling families to find options that match their children’s unique
learning needs, and increasing transparency in education spending.
Examining Michigan’s Blaine Amendment would be a good place for
lawmakers to start, Burke said. The amendment, originally designed to
prevent funding from going to “sectarian” schools, is now used to
prevent public funding from following students to religious schools of
their choice.
Ben DeGrow, director of education policy at the Michigan-based Mackinac
Center for Public Policy, told The Daily Signal in an email that he
recommends a student-based budgeting system, basic financial controls,
and getting districts out of costly union and vendor contracts, among
other reforms.
“The latest news of corrupt financial dealings in [Detroit public
schools] provides more evidence that the district operates according to
the principle of what works best for adults, rather than what works
best for the students it’s supposed to serve,” DeGrow said, adding:
In that respect, it’s a reflection of the larger political debate about
how to reform education in Detroit. Some leaders are focused on
rescuing and restoring an institution that has failed many thousands of
students, when there should be more talk about what drastic steps need
to be taken to give families more real options and students a better
shot at future successes.
Read this and other articles at The Daily Signal
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